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Spyglass Media Group
Spyglass Media Group, formerly Spyglass Entertainment (officially Spyglass Entertainment Holdings, LLC), is an American film and television production company founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in 1998. History Spyglass Entertainment In August 1998, Gary Barber, former vice chairman and COO of Morgan Creek Productions and Roger Birnbaum, co-founder and former head of Caravan Pictures, founded Spyglass Entertainment. The startup company signed a five-year distribution agreement with Disney, which took an equity stake. Birnbaum previously left Caravan at the prompting of then–Disney studio chief Joe Roth; with Disney cutting its yearly production output, Roth recommended forming a self-financing production firm similar to New Regency Productions. After Caravan's remaining three films were released, it went inactive. Its slate of movie projects and an initial financial advance of $10 million to $20 million against future overages were also contributed by Disney. Spyglass's operations were formed and based at the Walt Disney Studios. In October 1998, European media conglomerates Kirch Group and Mediaset invested in theatrical, video and television distribution rights to between 15 and 25 films in Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and the former Soviet Union for over five years. M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense (released 1999) was Spyglass' first film, collecting $661 million at the box office worldwide. By May 2000, Disney took a 10% equity stake in Spyglass, along with Svensk Filmindustri of Scandinavia and Lusomundo of Portugal. In March 2003, Spyglass Entertainment agreed to a four-year distribution output deal with Village Roadshow for Australia, New Zealand and Greece. In December 2003, Spyglass ended its deal with Disney and agreed to a four-year first-look non-exclusive co-financing and production deal with DreamWorks. This deal was never finalized and the relationship was not working well. Thus in September 2003, Spyglass instead made a similar deal with Sony Pictures. Spyglass did not move to the Sony lot, but to Murdoch Plaza in Westwood, Los Angeles. On December 20, 2010, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum became co-chairmen and CEOs of the holding company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which had at that time recently emerged from bankruptcy. The original plan had the Spyglass library being added to MGM, but it was later removed from the plan. Spyglass Media Group On March 13, 2019, Barber and Lantern Entertainment revived the company as Spyglass Media Group, bringing in Eagle Pictures and Cineworld as investors. Lantern made a majority investment and also transferred its film library to the new Spyglass. Barber owns the Spyglass trademark and the sequel and remake rights to the old Spyglass' library, which he has contributed. The company plans to produce content for all platforms. Spyglass closed the former Lantern Entertainment/TWC office in New York City while laying off 15 staff members across divisions. On April 1, 2019, Lauren Whitney, the president of television for Miramax, took on the same position for Spyglass. In March 2019, Eagle Pictures and Cineworld invested in Spyglass Media Group. The next month, Warner Bros. bought an equity stake in Spyglass, which signed a first-look deal with the studio. Foreign distributor *Village Roadshow (2003–2007) Australia, New Zealand and Greece *Canal Plus: France, Benelux, Sweden and Poland pay TV *Sogecable: Spanish pay cable *Pony Canyon: Japan *Lusomundo: Portugal *Forum: Israel *Ster Kinekor: South Africa Production filmography 1999s *''Instinct'' (1999) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures) *''The Sixth Sense'' (1999) (co-production with Hollywood Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures and The Kennedy/Marshall Company) *''The Insider'' (1999) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures) 2000s *''Mission to Mars'' (2000) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures) *''Keeping the Faith'' (2000) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures, Koch Co., Blumberg/Norton Porudctions and Triple Threat Talent) *''Shanghai Noon'' (2000) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures) *''Out Cold'' (2001) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures) *''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (2002) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures) *''Dragonfly'' (2002) (co-production with Universal Pictures) (through Buena Vista International) *''Abandon'' (2002) (co-production with Paramount Pictures) (through Buena Vista International) *''Reign of Fire'' (2002) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures) *''The Recruit'' (2003) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures and Epsilon Motion Pictures) *''Shanghai Knights'' (2003) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures) *''Bruce Almighty'' (2003) (co-production with Universal Pictures, Shady Acres Entertainment and Pit Bull Productions) (through Buena Vista International) *''Seabiscuit'' (2003) (co-production with Universal Pictures and DreamWorks) (through Buena Vista International) *''The Perfect Score'' (2004) (co-production with Paramount Pictures, MTV Films and Tollin/Robbins Productions) *''Connie and Carla'' (2004) (co-production with Universal Pictures) *''Mr. 3000'' (2004) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures and The Kennedy/Marshall Company) *''The Pacifier'' (2005) (co-production with Walt Disney Pictures) *''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (2005) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures and Hammer and Tongs) *''The Legend of Zorro'' (2005) (co-production with Columbia Pictures and Amblin Entertainment) *''Memoirs of a Geisha'' (2005) (co-production with Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Amblin Entertainment and Douglas Wick) (through Buena Vista International) *''Eight Below'' (2006) (co-production with Walt Disney Pictures, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, and Mandeville Films) *''Stay Alive'' (2006) (co-production with Hollywood Pictures, Endgame Entertainment and Wonderland Sound and Vision) (through Universal Pictures UK) *''Stick It'' (2006) (co-production with Touchstone Pictures) *''The Lookout'' (2007) (co-production with Miramax) *''The Invisible'' (2007) (co-production with Hollywood Pictures) *''Evan Almighty'' (2007) (co-production with Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Shady Acres Entertainment and Original Film) *''Underdog'' (2007) (co-production with Walt Disney Pictures) *''Balls of Fury'' (2007) (co-production with Rogue Pictures and Intrepid Pictures) *''27 Dresses'' (2008) (co-production with 20th Century Fox) *''Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins'' (2008) (co-production with Universal Pictures) *''The Ruins'' (2008) (co-production with DreamWorks and Red Hour Productions) *''The Happening'' (2008) (co-production with 20th Century Fox, Blinding Edge Pictures, UTV Motion Pictures, and RatPac-Dune Entertainment) *''The Love Guru'' (2008) (co-production with Paramount Pictures) *''Wanted'' (2008) (co-production with Universal Pictures) *''Ghost Town'' (2008) (co-production with DreamWorks) *''Flash of Genius'' (2008) (co-production with Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment) (through Optimum Releasing) *''Four Christmases'' (2008) (co-production with New Line Cinema) *''Star Trek'' (2009) (co-production with Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot Productions) *''G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'' (2009) (co-production with Paramount Pictures, Hasbro and Di Bonaventura Pictures) *''Invictus'' (2009) (co-production with Warner Bros., Malpaso Productions, and Revelations Entertainment) 2010s *''Leap Year'' (2010) (co-production with Universal Pictures and Relativity Media) *''Get Him to the Greek'' (2010) (co-production with Universal Pictures, Relativity Media and Apatow Productions) *''Dinner for Schmucks'' (2010) (distribution only; produced by Paramount Pictures) *''The Tourist'' (2010) (co-production with Columbia Pictures, GK Films, and Birnbaum/Barber) *''No Strings Attached'' (2011) (co-production with The Montecito Picture Company and Cold Spring Pictures) *''Footloose'' (2011) (co-production with MTV Films, Unique Features, Dylan Sellars Productions, Weston Pictures, Zadan/Meron Productions, Southern Cross the Dog, and Storyline Entertainment) *''The Vow'' (2012) (co-production with Screen Gems and Birnbaum/Barber Productions) References External links * * Category:Companies Category:Spyglass Entertainment films Category:Film production companies of the United States Category:Entertainment companies based in California Category:Companies based in Los Angeles Category:American companies established in 1998 Category:Entertainment companies established in 1998 Category:1998 establishments in California Category:Warner Bros. Category:Lantern Entertainment Category:Companies established in 1998